Rural Addressing step to Enhanced 911

Editor's Note: Clearwater County is tackling a major project to do Rural Addressing in areas outside incorporated cities. This the second in a series of articles to explain the process and benefits of the project.

Angela Vander Pas, Rural Addressing coordinator, said while Enhanced 911 is still some time off for Clearwater County, this is one of the steps that must be completed. Rural Addressing will include addressing landmarks and consistent addressing of structures in the county outside incorporated cities. Addresses will be matched with phone numbers as part of Enhanced 911.

Citizens who would like to be proactive in naming roads where they live may contact the county now and suggest road names. All roads with two or more residences will be named. Some roads will need to be renamed if they cause confusion with other similarly named roads within an emergency zone, she added.

Vander Pas said that current rural addresses cannot be used because the new ones will be based on a mileage system. This will make all the addresses consistent. The new addresses will identify the location of exactly. The old addresses do not. The main roads will be identified and smaller roads will be "anchored" from them so addresses will be based on how far they are from the beginning of the road. For instance, property that is between one and two miles up the road will begin with a "1", those between two and three miles up will begin with "2" and etc. All the addresses will have at least four numerals, except those that are less than one mile from the beginning of the road. They will have three numerals.

At present, an ordinance is being developed to outline the process of road naming, general procedures and the posting of signs.

Residents will have one year to notify all the agencies, organizations, businesses, individuals and etc. so mail and other deliveries will come to the right place. However, it is a good idea to notify others as soon as possible of the change and Vander Pas said the county hopes that addresses will be displayed as soon as they are received. Changes will be done in sections, but once it is started, the process will have a fairly close time frame.

Public meetings will be held in May or June to help people learn about the new addressing system. Further meetings will be held for the various areas as the new addresses are launched. Residents will receive notification by mail to let them know about the meetings and process.

Watch Window on the Clearwater for further information on Rural Addressing.